Saturday, January 12, 2013

The Hearing Test

A week after Mikey's two year old check-up, I found myself sitting in the audiologist's waiting room .My pediatrician had suggested that I have his hearing tested since he was not yet saying any words.
I filled out a questionaire, and we waited our turn.
When we were finally called in, I was told that we would go into a booth together, and Mikey would be seated in my lap. The person conducting the test would make noises that could be heard inside the booth, and they would watch Mikey to see if he reacted to the noise. Seemed easy enough, so we stepped into the booth.
Let me explain to you how this test went. After we were seated in the booth, I noticed two little monkeys with cymbals in the upper right and left hand corners of the booth. The lady outside the booth would push a button, the monkey would clank a cymbal, and the lady would watch Mikey. Now, call me crazy (and some do,believe me), but I couldn't see how conclusive this test could be....the monkeys moved each time they made a sound, so even if he didn't hear it, he sure as heck saw it move. Needless to say, he reacted to every noise/movement. The test was over, and out of the booth we went.
The lady working with us then tried to place some type of scope attached to a machine into his ear in order to evaluate him further. It was similar to a tympanagram. As most parents know, getting a two year old to sit still while you stick something in his ear is not likely to work, and it didn't. The test was therefore concluded ,and we went on our way.We spent more time in the waiting room than we did getting the test done.
A few days later , my pediatrician called and said exactly what I had thought...his hearing appeared to be fine.I really wasn't worried about his hearing because I could call his name from a different area of my house, and he would always come and find me. I was happy, but at the same time, kind of annoyed that we had wasted an entire morning.
Later in the week, my father-in-law stopped by. He usually visited us every Sunday afternoon, and we would have dinner or just chit chat. We were all sitting in our living room, and Mikey was sitting in front of the television watching one of his favorite shows..he was completely immersed in the program. My father-in-law
proceeded to call Mikey's name, but Mikey did not respond. After calling his name about five times, he turned to me and said, " What's the matter? He can hear, can't he?" Now, I had a great relationship with my father-in-law, and we had always been close. I do not know what came over me ,but I found myself becoming extremely defensive. I said " Of course, he can hear, we just had him tested." I know he meant no harm, but all I could think to myself is...wow, this is rich coming from the man who raised my husband. My house could burn down around my husband and he would never even notice if he was watching tv.....it must be a male hereditary trait! Now I love my husband more than anything, but I think most women would agree that getting any male's attention while he is watching tv is no easy task.I went into the kitchen, took a few deep breaths, and went back into the living room with everyone, acting as if the comment didn't bother me, but it did.
When I think back as to why I became defensive that day, I think it is because even though I knew his hearing was fine, I still had not been getting any words out of him, and I still had that feeling that something was not right. Well,I am going to say something that will probably be repeated over and over again throughout this blog...never mess with a mother's instinct....it is usually right.Unfortunately for us,it would not be long before I found out that my instinct had been right all along.Something was wrong, and we were about to find out exactly what it was.